Web Only / Features » April 26, 2013

A Cronkite Moment for the War on Terror

In a nation that often avoids acknowledging its own role in intensifying cycles of violence, it is unfortunately considered radical to do what the NBC News veteran did and mention that our violent attacks abroad increase the chance of retributive attacks at home.

“The stuff we have done overseas is now brought back into our own front yards. America's chickens are coming home to roost.”—Reverend Jeremiah Wright

In 2008, the hysterical backlash to the above comment by Barack Obama's minister became a high-profile example of one of the most insidious rules in American politics: You are not allowed to honestly discuss the Central Intelligence Agency's concept of “blowback” without putting yourself at risk of being deemed a traitor to country.

Now, five years later, with America having killed thousands of Muslim civilians in its drone strikes and wars, that rule is thankfully being challenged—and not by someone who is so easily smeared. Instead, the apostate is one of this epoch's most revered journalists—and because of that, we will see whether this country is mature enough to face one of its biggest national security quandaries.

This is the news from Tom Brokaw's appearance on “Meet the Press” last Sunday. Discussing revelations that the bombing suspects may be connected to Muslim fundamentalism, he said:

We have got to look at the roots of all of this because it exists across the whole [Asian] subcontinent and the Islamic world around the world. I think we also have to examine [America's] use of drones [because] there are a lot of civilians who are innocently killed in a drone attack in Pakistan, in Afghanistan and in Iraq. And I can tell you having spent a lot of time over there, young people will come up to me on the streets and say, ‘We love America, but if you harm one hair on the head of my sister, I will fight you forever.’ And there is this enormous rage against what they see in that part of the world as a presumptuousness of the United States.

As one of the establishment's most venerated voices, Brokaw is not prone to radical statements. But in a nation that often avoids acknowledging its own role in intensifying cycles of violence, it is unfortunately considered radical to do what the NBC News veteran did and mention that our violent attacks abroad increase the chance of retributive attacks at home.

Of course, Brokaw was merely stating the obvious: With America having killed thousands of civilians in its wars, we should be appalled by acts of terrorism—but we shouldn't be surprised by them. We should know that violence will inevitably come from those like the Boston bombing suspect who, according to the Washington Post, “told interrogators that the American wars in Iraq and Afghanistan motivated him and his brother to carry out the attack.”

Noting this is not to argue that such attacks are justified or that we deserve them. It is only to reiterate what Brokaw alluded to: Namely, that blowback should be expected in this age of Permanent War and that one way to potentially avert such blowback in the future is to try to de-escalate the cycle of violence.

To be sure, from Reverend Wright to Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul, many have made these points before. But they have typically been ignored or lambasted for uttering the truth. Brokaw, though, can't be so readily dismissed. He is a Walter Cronkite of his age, and, indeed, his declaration recalls Cronkite's seminal moment 45 years ago.

\Back in 1968, opponents of the Vietnam War were being marginalized in much the same way critics of today's wars now are. But when such a revered voice as Cronkite took to television to declare the conflict an unwinnable “stalemate,” he helped create a tipping point whereby Americans began to reconsider their assumptions.

In similarly making such an assumption-challenging statement, Brokaw has followed in Cronkite's heroic footsteps. The only question is: Will America finally listen?

David Sirota, an In These Times senior editor and syndicated columnist, is a staff writer at PandoDaily and a bestselling author whose book Back to Our Future: How the 1980s Explain the World We Live In Now—Our Culture, Our Politics, Our Everything was released in 2011. Sirota, whose previous books include The Uprising and Hostile Takeover, co-hosts "The Rundown" on AM630 KHOW in Colorado. E-mail him at ds@davidsirota.com, follow him on Twitter @davidsirota or visit his website at www.davidsirota.com.

I'm hopeful that your history study source question means you are interested in pursuing the subject. You obviously haven't done so yet, as reflected in your WWII remarks, above. Just a few exceptions? Seriously?

Posted by robbury on 2013-07-10 14:51:38

We did not declare a war AGAINST Afghanistan!! Nor against Yemen, nor against the other nations where we have sent drone strikes. We are making more converts to radicalism than we are killing! Listen to the Congressional testimony of the boy from the rural village in Yemen, who went back after his year here telling them how wonderful America was, and then their reaction after a drone strike killed, among others, 4 pregnant women, whom they ended up having to bury with the livestock they were tending because they couldn't distinguish the remains. What would your reaction be if another country was tracking down someone they considered an enemy-combatant in the USA and discovered he was living in your neighborhood and sent a drone in to kill him, taking out your family! Our hubris is inexcusable. The boy testifying said nobody in the village was aware that the man the U.S. was looking for was wanted by them. They were given no chance to take him into custody. No warning of the attack. AND we have now decided that any young man of age, REGARDLESS OF WHETHER THEY HAVE DONE ANYTHING, can be counted in our "statistics" of non-civilan deaths. THIS IS MADNESS! We act like there are no consequences to OUR wrong actions!!

Posted by ccaffrey on 2013-05-21 09:38:55

Where is Franky? Still beating your dog? Did you get that graffiti off your garbage yet?

What's the deal with you admitting your healthy relationship with Amanda Marcotte all over the internet? Does she know about this assboi?

Posted by lovewoodward2 on 2013-05-15 11:08:32

And here you are, wanting to communicate with homophobic me.

"Who's the more foolish, the fool or the fool who follows him?"

Have a good day if you can, cowboi.

Posted by The Dark Avenger on 2013-05-15 10:36:44

Dennis,

I think that Mary Belle from Taco Bell is involved as well. As sick as it sounds, that is what illegals tend to do.

Posted by lovewoodward2 on 2013-05-15 09:32:39

Why don't you come to Saginaw and we can hook up you up with Rant Casey. The 2 of you can copy and paste everything off the internet and pound each other like the queers that you are. Did you get he graffiti off your garage yet? hahahahahahahahahaha

Posted by lovewoodward2 on 2013-05-15 09:31:36

Dennis,If you had a wife named Taco Bell, wouldn't you have an anal fixation as well? Better yet, if you were a 50 something year old, unemployable, troll the internet LOSER (1000 FONT PLEASE) who claims they have a "very healthy relationship" with that fat fuck Amanda, than maybe just maybe it would be acceptable, NOT

Posted by lovewoodward2 on 2013-05-15 09:29:59

Seriously, stop trying to be Irish you FOOKIN half Mexi, half illegal Indian douche bag. Do you or your wife have a dot on your head? Call up your boys zython, fudgepack rider, copyburn, etc... and have a party at your house, drink manshevitz, pound each other in the ass with the petrol i oil. you ass pounding closet queer

Posted by lovewoodward2 on 2013-05-15 09:27:56

You can't hide your homophobia, can you? When you called Frank D a 'faggot', that wasn't just a slip. It's obvious your infatuation with anal sex and pegging, and your homophobic taunts are all likely born from repressed homosexual attraction that you're having problems internalizing.

Posted by Dennis on 2013-05-15 07:59:09

And you still can't keep from commenting about me, fudgepacker. Why don't you go to NJ where you and your profane, homophobic buddy can have some fun together at a bathroom in a public park or roadside rest stop?

Posted by The Dark Avenger on 2013-05-15 07:51:40

Aqualung/Frank/Dark Avenger has a serious anal fixation.

Who could've guessed that?

Posted by Dennis on 2013-05-15 07:39:19

Peg o' my heartpeg my ass

My brain is dryand feels like grass.

Posted by The Dark Avenger on 2013-05-15 00:13:26

Hey douchebag, you still enjoying Mar Belle's or Fudgepack Riders assholes and all that hair? That's disgusting you libtard fuckstick.

If DA got close enough to kiss me, he would have a rearranged face. Maybe though it would actually make him look normal. Perhaps Ms. TacoBell would clean her poop shoot for him so he doesn't end up with chocolate on his pecker.

Posted by lovewoodward2 on 2013-05-14 08:17:43

Ask Mary Belle Taco Bell if she knows what is wrong with the ice machine. She needs to stop banging all the under 18 staff. They may tell mommy and daddy when the warts start.

Posted by Taco Bell on 2013-05-13 22:21:02

Hey fruit loop, where you been. Can't take the heat? You are a fucking LOSER ( 1000 FONT PLEASE). How's that fat slob Amanda doing? You 2 were made for each other. A half sandy and fat libtard BITCH. enjoy that big old stinky fat labia. Oh, that's right, you enjoy cock too much so make sure you and Zython where rubbers, you queer fucks

Posted by Taco Bell on 2013-05-13 22:19:05

Let Kristen peg you tonight, Tom. You promised her, after all.

Posted by The Dark Avenger on 2013-05-13 20:41:43

Easy on the ice, I'm not paying 1.25$ for a cup of frozen water flavored with Diet Pepsi.

Posted by The Dark Avenger on 2013-05-13 20:41:00

Hey Franky,

Still fudgepacking douchebag?

Posted by Taco Bell on 2013-05-13 20:32:02

I was thinking maybe have you show up. We all punch the shit out of you and then have some Taco Bell while you watch? and sure invite all those people you list above. I am sure they would gladly enjoy Frank Avenger "Punching Bag". You are a LOSER (1000 FONT PLEASE). Oh, and I will make sure Dannah Gaz comes over to read the above. Your homophobic, transgender hate has been brought out again. Your a fucking loser

Posted by lovewoodward2 on 2013-05-12 09:45:53

Frank DiSalle would love you to put your dick up his ass, Tom, then you can have Kristen peg you, and then you can suck Dennis's cock.

Posted by The Dark Avenger on 2013-05-12 09:21:26

Dennis,

Fortunately for me, he has no fucking idea who I am. He thinks he does but he is absolutely fucking wrong. If he ever called my house, I would have a field day with him. He is a FUCKING LOSER (1000 FONT PLEASE)

MexiMelt

Posted by Taco Bell on 2013-05-12 08:47:52

Taco Bell, if you have kids, you can be sure Frank Dark Avenger is trying to look up anything and everything he can about them. Leopards don't change their stripes, like Al Gore said.

Posted by Dennis on 2013-05-12 08:40:49

Dennis,

I think Frank needs a lover. Any suggestions? Mine would be Barney Frank, The Good Governor and or nancy Pelosi. Maybe with a little hope while they are all there, Cali splits off the US and becomes its own country. All those fucking liberals gone at once.

Mary Belle Taco Bell

Posted by Taco Bell on 2013-05-12 08:34:18

Agreed and maybe you could make a Korean kid or even better, move there when Jeb Bush becomes president 2016. That way when we turn N. Korea into a parking lot because your terrible president wants to be their friend instead of standing firm on foreign policy (all created by another LOSER. OBOZO). Post parking lot, Jaim and Franky can Fudgepack each other in nuclear energy. Packing his fudge is your dream, you LOSER (1000 FONT PLEASE)

Posted by Taco Bell on 2013-05-12 08:25:40

DA,

I will go as long as you show up and we can play punch the face on the Franky. First one to knock him out gets to enjoy Taco Bell, free of charge. The way you love everything, FREE. you are a LOSER (1000 FONT PLEASE)

Posted by Taco Bell on 2013-05-12 08:17:09

Of course many moonbat liberal commenters will say that about me, DA, because I tell them how full of shit they are. I think you have a serious problem with logic, and that's why you're unable to find a job and rely on on government disability payments

Sorry, to bust your bubble, cowboi, but the last government check I got was my federal and CA tax refund for this year. My noble spouse did receive workman's comp more than 10 years ago b-cause of an on-the-job injury, but she recovered from that long before she started in her current postion.

I'm sorry to make a hash of your imaginings about me, but, hey,. who ever said conservative were reality-based in the first place?

Have a good hour, Bubba.

Posted by The Dark Avenger on 2013-05-12 07:25:16

Jaim is a coward like you, DA. Degrees from good universities but neither of you could cut it in the US job market. He left the country to go teach ESL classes to Korean kids, a job that requires only that one be able to speak English. Claimed he left because he didn't like

'Bush's America'. Blogs about his hatred of all things conservative. Of course he hates me. He hates everyone. A kindred spirit to you because he's the only other liberal besides you that got banned by Oliver. That's why you quote his writing. You should fly to S Korea and make him your domestic partner. Except he's a little old for your tastes, apparently.

Posted by Dennis on 2013-05-12 06:18:07

Funny, the demented Aqualung freak who's called my house over 30 times and obsesses over other peoples' kids to the point of stalking them on Facebook, calls me a stalker.

With Frank the Dark Avenger, IT'S ALWAYS PROJECTION.

Posted by Dennis on 2013-05-12 06:11:59

And there have been many librul commentators who have told you how full of sh*t you are, Dennis.

Of course many moonbat liberal commenters will say that about me, DA, because I tell them how full of shit they are. I think you have a serious problem with logic, and that's why you're unable to find a job and rely on on government disability payments. I've told you in no uncertain terms how universally disliked you are by other liberals like yourself, and how unusual that is for liberals to be so disgusted by another liberal like they have been with you on many, many occasions. So your response is to tell me, a conservative, that many liberals on their liberal blogs that I post on don't particularly care for me. Duh. It's just like your problem messing up 'at best' with 'at worse' trying to explain two separate ends of the spectrum. Logic is just not something that comes easy with you.

Oliver called Hillary a racist who used Klan-style talking points and that blacks would not and should not vote for her if she would've gone on to defeat Obama for the Dem presidential nomination in 2008, that they should vote for the Republican. He said that, DA. It proves how easily he uses the race card, just like he used it on Joe Biden, and every other politician who's ever run against Obama. It's hackery to to say that about Clinton and then 4-5 years later praise her for her leadership in the Benghazi affair for bungling the operation and the covering it up. He won't even admit she made any mistakes. I posted his article because it contradicted his claim about what he had said about her then. And that's projection for you, like it always is, as you're the one who's the Wayback Machine Freak.

Posted by Dennis on 2013-05-12 06:04:19

Frank,

You are a sick, unemployable, 50 something no good LOSER (1000 FONT PLEASE). Get a life and leave my good friend Dennis alone. He, Frank Disalle, Manbear, Copyavatar, Taco Bell and I are your WORST (not worse as you would say and grammar girl would correct, because you are stupid) NIGHTMARES.

Woody

Posted by lovewoodward2 on 2013-05-11 13:21:40

Hey asshole, do us all a favor and go hide under a rock for about 15 years. You are a complete and utter stupid fuck. Your attempt to persuade some guy Tom into communicating with you is really shameless. I just can't wait for that guy to log in and see what you have posted about him and his wife and everything else and fucking destroy your already worthless life. perhaps they will take your computer away and force you into a rehab facility. You are a fucking LOSER (1000 FONT PLEASE) Frank. If you think you know who I am, then come find me you fucking shameless LOSER (1000 FONT PLEASE)

Posted by lovewoodward2 on 2013-05-11 13:18:34

it's frightening He is a really scary person. I almost just shit my pants reading that. He is fucking scary.

woody

Posted by lovewoodward2 on 2013-05-11 13:08:41

“Jaim, why do you describe that as funny?”

Oh please Stalker Dennis. “Funny” as in “peculiar,” not “hilarious.” As in “funny how Stalker Dennis claims he has an amazing, Master-of-the-Universe job when he manages to spend every entire day trolling on a liberal blog.”

And there have been many librul commentators who have told you how full of sh*t you are, Dennis.

You aren't liked or respected by any libruls, Dennis Gene.

Quite a few have told him how despicable he is for his personal information fetish,

That's funny, coming from you, Stalker Dennis. You're the one who took a column that Ollie wrote 5 years ago criticizing Hillary Clinton to bash him with.

Please get off of your high horse, and spend some time today with your lovely wife Rebecca and your two beautiful and talents daughters.

You should do the same with Kristen, Thomas Peckerwood Dufner.

Posted by The Dark Avenger on 2013-05-11 12:01:48

Usually liberals are tolerant of other liberals being disgusting. Apparently Dark Avenger pushed that envelope to far for even them.

Posted by Dennis on 2013-05-11 12:00:29

DA,

Now that is not nice. Very naughty of you. You need to apologize to Taco Bell.

Woody

Posted by lovewoodward2 on 2013-05-11 11:26:24

DA is fantasizing about kissing you, Woodward.

Just like does with Frank DiSalles' son when he stalks him on Facebook.

How weird is that?

Posted by Dennis on 2013-05-11 11:26:11

stop with the pictures butt quake. You are suck a CHILD

Posted by lovewoodward2 on 2013-05-11 11:15:17

Stop with the stupid fucking pictures butt quake

Posted by lovewoodward2 on 2013-05-11 11:14:17

Copy PASTA back at it again. Wow, you are an idiot. Get a life douchebag. You couldn't write those lyrics if your life depended on it. Enough with the stupid fucking pictures. It shows that you are a 50 something unemployable dirt bag trapped in a 4 year old body. LOSER (10000 FONT PLEASE)

Posted by lovewoodward2 on 2013-05-11 11:12:30

Your lights are on, but you're not home

Your mind is not your own

Your heart sweats, your body shakes

Another kiss is what it takes

You can't sleep, you can't eat

There's no doubt, you're in deep

Your throat is tight, you can't breathe

Another kiss is all you need

Whoa, you like to think that you're immune to the stuff, oh yeah

It's closer to the truth to say you can't get enough

You know you're gonna have to face it, you're addicted to love

You see the signs, but you can't read

You're runnin' at a different speed

Your heart beats in double time

Another kiss and you'll be mine, a one track mind

You can't be saved

Oblivion is all you crave

If there's some left for you

You don't mind if you do

Whoa, you like to think that you're immune to the stuff, oh yeah

It's closer to the truth to say you can't get enough

You know you're gonna have to face it, you're addicted to love

Might as well face it, you're addicted to love

Might as well face it, you're addicted to love

Might as well face it, you're addicted to love

Might as well face it, you're addicted to love

Might as well face it, you're addicted to love

[break]

Your lights are on, but you're not home

Your will is not your own

You're heart sweats, your teeth grind

Another kiss and you'll be mine

Whoa, you like to think that you're immune to the stuff, oh yeah

It's closer to the truth to say you can't get enough

You know you're gonna have to face it, you're addicted to love

Might as well face it, you're addicted to love

Might as well face it, you're addicted to love

Might as well face it, you're addicted to love

Might as well face it, you're addicted to love

Might as well face it, you're addicted to love

Might as well face it, you're addicted to love

Might as well face it, you're addicted to love

Might as well face it, you're addicted to love

Might as well face it, you're addicted to love

Posted by The Dark Avenger on 2013-05-11 11:05:53

Seriously Frank. What a stupid fucking picture ( must be of you) and disclosing full names once again? You need a trip to rehab. I will sponsor you, as long as it is with bubba and his friends. You need a pickle sandwich.

Posted by Taco Bell on 2013-05-11 09:38:19

Welcome back Dennis,

His fetish is disgusting, his humor awful and his breath is fucking disgusting. He mixes Doritos with Taco Bell. Often pulling out of his ass. He is a DOUBLE DOUCHEBAG

Posted by Taco Bell on 2013-05-11 09:36:20

Actually, woodward, there are at least 10-12 liberal commenters on various websites that that have told Dark Avenger what the deal is. He is not liked or respected by many liberals. Quite a few have told him how despicable he is for his personal information fetish, but it's an addiction he can't control at this point.

Posted by Dennis on 2013-05-11 09:33:51

Hey Dennis,

Where did The Dark Avenger go? Do you think his panties are twisted? Did he take his ball and go home. What a LOSER (1000 FONT PLEASE)

Mary Belle Taco Bell

Posted by Taco Bell on 2013-05-11 09:29:30

Please Use my proper name. It's Taco Bell assmunch. Does Mary Belle Taco Bell shove Doritos up your ass sideways? Kind of kinky. After she is done, does she eat the chip?

Posted by Taco Bell on 2013-05-10 23:47:33

Take a Ranch-flavored Doritos and shove it up your ass sideways, Mr Dufner.

Posted by The Dark Avenger on 2013-05-10 23:33:00

Dennis, I love how Frank posts "Have a good hour, cowboi" when he is fucking cooked. He is a deadbeat, loser. He has no life, you called his bluff, made him look like a fool and now it's his time to sit behind his computer with Mary Belle Taco Bell banging his head against his keyboard because you made him your bitch. Frank, you are D,ennis's biatch douchebag

Posted by Taco Bell on 2013-05-10 23:05:06

You are a fucking loser. Banned from libtard sites. Very funny shit. DA, get a fucking life LOSER ( 100000 FONT PLEASE)

Posted by Taco Bell on 2013-05-10 23:01:28

That is really funny. Mary Belle who stuffs her face with TACO BELL

Posted by Taco Bell on 2013-05-10 22:55:08

Look over here, I'm a douchebag, Frank Taco Bell Avenger. You still live in that old run down piece of shit no grass in lawn shack with graffiti all over it? You a FOOKIN LOSER ASSHOLE (10000 FONT PLEASE)

I'm sorry to hear that he misses me so. Perhaps you could teach him how to Google? Take a few minutes from your production schedule to teach a fellow commentator some of the ropes.

Oh, right. You'd have to act unselfishly.

Sorry I brought it up. You won't hold it against me, right?

Posted by The Dark Avenger on 2013-05-10 16:32:37

I was telling you to Get A Life F*cking, Dennis. Way to miss the point.

Oh, yeah, and I'm such a failure that you can't stay away from:

Dennis has replied to you on

A Cronkite Moment for the War on Terror

an hour ago • In These Times

Dennis has replied to you on

A Cronkite Moment for the War on Terror

2 hours ago • In These Times

Dennis has replied to you on

A Cronkite Moment for the War on Terror

3 hours ago • In These Times

Dennis has replied to you on

A Cronkite Moment for the War on Terror

5 hours ago • In These Times

Taco Bell has replied to you on

A Cronkite Moment for the War on Terror

5 hours ago • In These Times

Dennis has replied to you on

A Cronkite Moment for the War on Terror

9 hours ago • In These Times

Dennis has replied to you on

A Cronkite Moment for the War on Terror

10 hours ago

Have a good hour, cowboi. You add such an unique perspective to Ollie's blog that I could never match. I hope the two of you demonstrate what can happen when libruls of good, Obamabot faith, and pure of heart conservatives like you, come togther.

Still lurking there. Clinging bitterly to the hopes of getting unbanned some day.

How pathetic. The kid who nobody ever picked for their team and had to sit on the sidelines hoping somebody had to leave the game so he could get in.

Posted by Dennis on 2013-05-10 14:26:48

Hey, Dennis, I'm sure that he appreciates all the badgering you've given him over Hillary Clinton. If there's a conservative who is better at hating her than you, I've yet to hear of them.

I'd like to share what perhaps Ollie thinks of you, but the terms and services of Disqus forbids me from doing so.

Posted by The Dark Avenger on 2013-05-10 13:57:38

It's so refreshing not having you ejaculate all over the place there with your bad English and copypasta nonsense that has nothing to do with anything, just something you read once and wanted to let people know that you read it.

Posted by Dennis on 2013-05-10 13:08:34

The site has db and others to take care of your lies and laments, Dennis. Like this:

I'm still waiting for the "lie".Defined as stating something known to be false.

The best Dennis, PG, & such can come up with is that there was massive confusion during an attack on the Embassy.

I can't tell you how much more enjoyable it's been posting at Oliver's place since you got the banhammer for being a left-wing troll on a left-wing blog. Ollie's probably wondering why he didn't let you go a long time ago.

Thanks for demonstrating why you're such an inferior example of humanity, Dennis.

And say hello to your dead sister for me.

Posted by The Dark Avenger on 2013-05-10 09:24:15

You're that very odd duck who trolls left-wing blogs as a left-winger. When other left-wingers tell you to fuck off for being an obnoxious and demented left-wing asshole who embarrasses the left-wing, you respond with 'like I give a good godamn [sp]'.

No one likes you, Frank. You've managed to offend everybody you've come in contact with, and that list keeps growing by the day.

Did you notice that no one came in to back you up after Substance McGravitas told you to FUCK OFF? Not even Mooser. And no one came in even after I laughed at you for Substance smacking you down like that.

Poor, poor Aqualung Frank. Time to go down to the bog to warm your feet. Or the park to watch the frilly panties run.

Posted by Dennis on 2013-05-10 06:59:18

What a stupid, depressed, fool you are, Dennis. Getting up early in the morning to tell me all your sad little fantasies about how I live out here, because your pathetic imagination no doubt needs to be used somehow.

Have a good hour, Dennis, if you can.

Posted by The Dark Avenger on 2013-05-10 06:40:30

What a sad, lonely, vulgar and depressed human being you are, Frank. All day long sitting in a small house, in a shit neighborhood, in a desert town with 20% unemployment, all by yourself trying to impress other liberals with your constant copying and pasting to appear knowledgeable....and then those liberals, one by one, all start telling you to STFU and Fuck Off. Of course you would say 'Like I really give a good godamn [sp]', because you've been facing rejection your whole life. With the internet, there's always that next liberal blog you can do the same thing that you can move to till they figure out what a sick, twisted freak you are. And on and on it goes.

Posted by Dennis on 2013-05-10 06:25:02

Maribel Taco Bell. I wonder if it gets confusing for everyone when she goes to the taco doctor.

Kinda like a 'Who's on first?' skit.

Like when she calls the doctor's office for the first appointment and she says her last name is TacoBell, you have to wonder if the receptionist thinks it's a Bart Simpson prank call.

Posted by Dennis on 2013-05-10 06:17:25

I'm sorry, Tom, but Kristen already knows about it, I sent her everything in an e-mail. Your days of trolling are over.

Posted by The Dark Avenger on 2013-05-10 00:21:16

Make a run for the border, por favor, senor.

Posted by The Dark Avenger on 2013-05-10 00:20:27

Dennis,

This guy is an unemployable, 50 something copy and paste hack who claims that he ' has a very healthy relationship with Amanda Marcotte'. I am pissing my pants typing this. What a douche bag

Taco

Posted by Taco Bell on 2013-05-09 21:49:37

Do you realize that you are a demented fucking asshole? You need an ass kicking like never before. Get a fucking life, you LOSER ( 1000 FONT PLEASE).

Posted by Taco Bell on 2013-05-09 21:46:55

Who the fuck do you think you are? You are a fucking douche bag

Posted by Taco Bell on 2013-05-09 21:42:28

Douchebag,

Do you want to do the salsa? Maybe a mexi melt?

Taco

Posted by Taco Bell on 2013-05-09 21:41:22

It was cruel of Oliver to let you read the comments there but ban you from posting.

Nah, it was cruel of Oliver to force you to create a new Dennis Disqus identity after you had 500+ on your old account.

And now you have a third one. That's smart, being prepared in case he bans you again. Not that you're adding much to the site except for nay-saying in the first place and demonstrating how much of a WATB a conservative can be.

The kinder thing for an obsessive like you would've been to ban you from lurking, too, so you don't freak out on yourself from no longer being able to participate in the fun there.

So that I don't freak out by posting a dozen or so comments in a short period like you? Good point.

You have to be that one in a million type liberal, banned and despised at several liberal blogs now

Really, I'm banned somewhere else? News to me, Dennis. I thought I was banned all over the place.

Really, Dennis, you can't get your facts straight about 8th grade English, and now you've fallen for taunting me about being banned.

Like Substance said, please FUCK OFF, Dark Avenger.

Try not to wake Rebecca up when you fuck her in the ass tonight, Dennis, that's a good boy.

63 comments.

Posted by Don't fuck her in the ass. on 2013-05-09 20:16:11

It was cruel of Oliver to let you read the comments there but ban you from posting. The kinder thing for an obsessive like you would've been to ban you from lurking, too, so you don't freak out on yourself from no longer being able to participate in the fun there.

You have to be that one in a million type liberal, banned and despised at several liberal blogs now. Everyone is starting to figure out what an offensive, bigoted, odious Aqualung freak you are, and no one wants anything at all to do with you. Like Substance said, please FUCK OFF, Dark Avenger.

Posted by Dennis on 2013-05-09 18:50:53

db doesn't know his ass from his elbow. The poor sap relies on you to Google things for him. He's lost now that you've been banned. And he hasn't read a word about Benghazi since about Sept 12th. All that and he lacks the ability or even curiosity to read anything objective.

Posted by Dennis on 2013-05-09 18:38:19

Yeah, I pissed a commentator off, that's why I haven't posted there lately.

Your fellow liberals are just not that in to you, DA. All you have to offer them are your boring copy and paste jobs, and everyone can pretty much do that on their own these days. Save for db, but you got banned at the only place he posts at.

Posted by Dennis on 2013-05-09 16:09:33

True, Woodward. Think about that for a moment. When he wakes up in the morning, this is his vocation. His calling. His production. When Maribel Tabucao come home from her job providing for her and him both and asks him how his day went, he tells her about the people he battled on the Internet that day, or who he provided a copy and paste job for. His 'production' is the number of up votes he received. He probably keeps a running tally for the week.

He is truly the living embodiment of Jethro Tull's Aqualung character.

Posted by Dennis on 2013-05-09 13:36:02

Ohh, that's so funny, I forgot to laugh, Dennis.

Posted by The Dark Avenger on 2013-05-09 12:53:23

OMG Frank Avenger, danah gaz, your worse nightmare, is posting at Sadly No!, the only liberal blog that you post at that hasn't banned you yet.

Posted by Dennis on 2013-05-09 11:31:15

She didn't justify using 'at best' and 'at worst' in the same sentence like you said she did. Her piece on superlatives and comparative adjectives does nothing to defend your incorrect mixing of a superlative and a comparative. She simply does not address it. And again, if you're claiming to have used 'at best' as an ungrammatical way to say 'better' to match the comparative 'at worse' for sentence harmony, then grow a pair and tell us what you could've possibly meant by your statement "but that picture you're apparently basing your remarks on is old, and therefore your comments are irrelevant at best, and ludicrous at worse.".

Posted by Dennis on 2013-05-09 11:23:41

I would tell you the same thing but you don't work, your a LOSER DA (1000 FONT PLEASE)

Posted by lovewoodward2 on 2013-05-09 10:47:28

I would tell you to get back to production, but this is your production. Posting untrue bullcrap all over the internet. nobody would employ a loser like you. not even burger king.

your a LOSER DA(1000 Font please)

Posted by lovewoodward2 on 2013-05-09 10:46:54

your grammar is awful just like your breath and spelling

Posted by lovewoodward2 on 2013-05-09 10:45:21

Hey LOSER (1000 FONT please),

is it worst or best or worse or better? how's is Ollie's blog going LOSER. Did you get banned again?

Posted by lovewoodward2 on 2013-05-09 10:44:02

Don't you think we should bomb North Korea and Syria?

Posted by lovewoodward2 on 2013-05-09 10:41:37

Take the advice of your fellow blogger Matthew Brown. he is simply trying to help you from injuring yourself. you are a loser DA- LOSER (1000 font please)

Posted by lovewoodward2 on 2013-05-09 10:40:44

I take back everything I said above Matthew except that I don't like Obozo. You are the first liberal (I know you don't like to be called that) who told this douche bag what the deal is. He is posting some guys wife, kids, employer on this and many other sites and I am not even this guy. I have asked him to find me and find out who I am and have attempted to track down the guy he is posting about without success. If I were this person, rest assured I would have already taken matters into the law enforcers. This guy has broken the law in so many ways, it is disgusting. I hope he ends up with bubba real soon, that is what he deserves. he is a creepy stalker.

Posted by lovewoodward2 on 2013-05-09 10:38:46

No douche bag, this is MY great country. Bush is the best president that ever ran MY great country and your boy Obozo is digging his hole deeper. Perhaps we could see a birth certificate and/or a Benghazi report? Or Boston bombing? Obozo is done big boy so go FOOK yourself douchebag

Posted by lovewoodward2 on 2013-05-09 10:35:18

Anthony,

Why do we entertain these morons? Collectively, they probably are all unemployed, tit sucking of the gov't, jerkoffs. That's my thought.

Woodward

Posted by lovewoodward2 on 2013-05-09 10:33:15

Matthew, excuse me? You are an illiterate asshole for attacking Mr. O'Donnell. Your boy Obozo is/will go down as the worst (DA, that's how you use the word in a sentence) president in the history of the United States. My suggestion would be for Obozo to regain whatever good will he had is to kick out all illegals from MY great country. That would include all who swam, jumped fences or just came into MY great country illegally If you weren't born here or do not have proper credentials to live here, get the FOOK out of MY great country.

enough said,

Woodward

Posted by lovewoodward2 on 2013-05-09 10:32:12

Take the stick out of your ass, get off the iPad, and get back to production, Dwight.

Posted by The Dark Avenger on 2013-05-09 10:18:49

"Sometimes the ungrammatical way sounds best. And again, I just caught myself using “best” instead of “better” in that sentence. I compared two items, the grammatical way and the ungrammatical way, but I used a superlative."

That's what she wrote, Dennis. Just like I used the superlative best in an ungrammatical way.

Is there someone at your work who has to remind you to breath, occasionally?

Posted by The Dark Avenger on 2013-05-09 10:15:23

Funny how you accept her authority on that, but not on using best and worse in the same sentence.

She didn't address using best and worst in the same sentence. That's why your quoting her was irrelevant and didn't make sense given your use of the two words. If you meant to say 'better' then state how that clarifies what you meant by your sentence. You won't do that. No, you meant to convey what was 'at best' and what was at worst, but you incorrectly stated 'at worse', and you can't admit that. Even after you played the 'I'm a tutor to kids on comparative and superlative adjectives' card. What a joke you are.

Posted by Dennis on 2013-05-09 09:45:43

Shorter DA, paraphrasing JennofArk: "I admit, it was the worst of sentences, and it was the worst of sentences."

Posted by Dennis on 2013-05-09 09:39:18

No, according to Grammar girl, it should be 'better' in that case, but like 'best foot forward', it doesn't sound right to the ear, so it was allowed by her.

Funny how you accept her authority on that, but not on using best and worse in the same sentence.

Get off the iPad and get back to work, you moron.

Posted by The Dark Avenger on 2013-05-09 09:30:39

Dennis, I'm so glad that you stalked me on this thread to tell me these important things, rather than work on your production.

Not.

Put away the iPad and get to work, Dwight.

Posted by The Dark Avenger on 2013-05-09 09:28:58

OMG, the 'copy and paste/throw a bunch of shit up against the wall to obfuscate' defense run amok. Your sentence makes no sense, that's why you won't attempt to explain how it even does.

Posted by Dennis on 2013-05-09 09:14:36

Oh, the old gray mare, she ain't what she used to be,Ain't what she used to be, ain't what she used to be.The old gray mare, she ain't what she used to be,Many long years ago.

More and less are comparative adjectives, not superlative, Dennis.

Dennis is the worst commentator on the Internet.

See how easy that is?

Posted by The Dark Avenger on 2013-05-09 08:57:58

The little girl in the AT&T 4G commercial makes more sense than you....

Man: Who thinks more is better than less? Okay, why? Girl: More is better than less because if stuff is not less... if there's more less stuff then you might, you might want to have some more and your parents just don't let you because there's only a little. Man: Right. Girl: We want more. We want more. Like, you really like it. You want more. Man: I follow you.

Posted by Dennis on 2013-05-09 08:42:38

Gibberish, Frank. Again, you're trying to copy and paste your way out of a rhetorical mess and only making it worse. Grammar girl didn't ok what you wrote (she said just the opposite), the computer tech guy got it wrong (nice example, a computer guy), and the blogger used it in an entirely different context than what you were trying to convey (again, nice example, some blogger). You were going for the two ends of the spectrum, since you used 'best' as one end, 'worse' in your case could mean something just slightly less than the best case, and that was not what you were going for, you just won't admit it. And allowing for the idea you're now trying to claim, this 'creativity and idiomatic usage' after-the-fact excuse, tell us all how that sentence would make any sense at all.

Posted by Dennis on 2013-05-09 08:40:34

No buddy, this is OUR country asshat. And Bush fucked it up right good. And don't you dare fucking call me a liberal either, I support the death penalty, I support the second amendment, I am a fucking AMERICAN. Bush is a piece of shit, and he was either a naive and stupid patsy(which I doubt) or a willing war criminal, in which case he should be prosecuted.

Posted by Matthew Brown on 2013-05-09 08:32:16

I've dealt with this troll as dufthom before, and I'm not afraid of him. Dennis Gene doesn't even know the side of the street I live on, let alone the correct address of my house and what it looks like.

These two are the Duo that Couldn't shoot straight. They're about as menacing as a meerkat with a bag of marshmallows.

Posted by The Dark Avenger on 2013-05-09 08:31:57

If you have cable, or wanna look up on YouTube, Vice Magazine does a lot of video documentaries and interviews. On episode 1 the founder of the Mag goes to Kabul to interview some failed suicide bombers. Its fucked up as hell. They take kids from like the age of 5 and raise them to think the suicide vest is some special bomb that only explodes outwards. Or they just tell the little kid the vest has some important documents in it they need dropped off somewhere, and blow it up by remote. Most of those kids and people with bombs strapped to their chest are not aware and witting people, they have been literally brainwashed and raised into that role. Its fucked beyond all belief. And we cause this by giving radical leaders excuses to convert these kids, because we keep dropping bombs. Not to mention all the shady ties with ISI/CIA and how similar these brainwashing methods and practices are with the CIA's handbooks on things...

Posted by Matthew Brown on 2013-05-09 08:30:15

You really need to work on your reading comprehension, Matt.

Posted by Anthony R. O'Donnell on 2013-05-09 08:23:27

Fucking with someone is one thing, its the internet. Posting peoples personal information(even if it is somewhere else) is over the line buddy. You give a bunch of crazies easy access to identifying info, and here of all places on a news comment site there are assholes who will get heated. Not a good combination man, seriously.

Posted by Matthew Brown on 2013-05-09 08:23:09

I think you're indulging in a bit of projection, Matt.

Posted by Anthony R. O'Donnell on 2013-05-09 08:21:52

It's hard to respond politely to such a rude and ignorant comment. The first Geneva Convention was ratified in the 19th century. Your notion of Hitler's activities is equally ignorant. On the point of what distinguishes lawful warfare and atrocities, you're simply useless. Thanks for trying.

Posted by Anthony R. O'Donnell on 2013-05-09 08:19:11

Not to mention half the drone strikes in Pakistan are made on behalf of the Pakistani, not us.

Posted by Matthew Brown on 2013-05-09 08:18:57

You are some deluded kid who just watches FOX news clip. We launch drone strikes without even verifying the identity of a target, we launch strikes hoping a targets just there, when there is no intelligence whatsoever. The TECHNOLOGY is CAPABLE of being precise, it is not used precisely by any means.

Posted by Matthew Brown on 2013-05-09 08:17:55

No we don't. We have the right to defend ourselves from an aggressor, and the right to come to the aid of an ally. We have done neither. And the only ally over there who's gonna ask for our help?(Israel) They have no damned business being there.

Posted by Matthew Brown on 2013-05-09 08:16:27

Again...WHERE THE HELL DO YOU GET YOUR HISTORICAL INFORMATION? Look at the rates of bombs dropping in the middle east since drones were deployed. Go find it yourself, because I am not here to think for you.(They went up) Al Qaeda diminished? THATS WHO WE HAVE BEEN SUPPORITNG in SYRIA, WHO SET UP IN MALI. And...as far as bombing Pakistan? We're not bombing Al Qaeda there, we're bombing a Pakistani offshoot of the Taliban. Where in the hell do you get your information? You sound like some kid narrating Band of Brothers to me.

Posted by Matthew Brown on 2013-05-09 08:14:40

And here's yet another thing you are completely ignorant. For the most part (with the except of places like Nagasaki, Hiroshima, Dresden) the Allies were pretty insistent on only bombing industrial military targets. We didn't go bombing little French villages on the country side, we didn't indiscriminately hit people that were not stationed with enemy troops, we went after MILITARY TARGETS. We just drop bombs in villages now because there 'might be a terrorist there.' Where the hell did you study history?

Posted by Matthew Brown on 2013-05-09 08:11:50

Thats because, GENIUS, they did not exist then. The Geneva Conventions were created in RESPONSE to World War II, and things like civilian deaths being rampant and widespread. You have no clue what the hell you are talking about. America has probably given Hitler a run for his money as far as how many innocent people we've killed in war. Honestly, just stop posting on news sites, you are completely clueless.

Posted by Matthew Brown on 2013-05-09 08:09:17

You're wrong. You mixed a superlative 'at best' with a comparative adjective 'at worse' and it doesn't make sense.

Really, this doesn't make sense?

At most, the one sentence you were translating. With an old-fashioned translation tool installed in a local PC, if the PC breaks down, you can lose everything at worse, hours of work at best.

So “better” versus “best” is a bit of a conundrum. Sometimes the ungrammatical way sounds best. And again, I just caught myself using “best” instead of “better” in that sentence. I compared two items, the grammatical way and the ungrammatical way, but I used a superlative. Well, I guess “best” is sometimes the best option, even if it’s not technically correct. In speech, it’s probably fine to let a few “bests” slip out, but in formal writing you might want to use a comparative when it’s called for. If it sounds unnatural, then rewrite the sentence.

Your schoolmarmish version of English is fine for the dessicated, straitjacketed, lifeless form of communication used in business English, but it doesn't allow for anything else, like creativity and idiomatic usage as I've done up there.

Copy and paste something from a writer who properly used 'at best' with 'at worse' in the same sentence. I'd like to see that. Like maybe Dickens 'It was the best of times, it was the worse of times'. No, wait, he said 'It was the best of times, it was the worst of times', didn't he, since 'worse' in that statement wouldn't have told us very much?

As you can see, even grammar girl allows for it, and I'm pretty sure that, like you, she's aware of the opening of " A Tale of Two Cities."

If your expertise on financial matters were on the same level as your English, you'd be trading with wooden nickels and buffalo skins all day.

Keep up displaying your lack of common sense, Dennis Gene, and thanks for demonstrating what it's like to comment with a stick up ones' own butt.

Posted by The Dark Avenger on 2013-05-09 08:02:14

You're wrong. You mixed a superlative 'at best' with a comparative adjective 'at worse' and it doesn't make sense. All the copying and pasting is not going to change that fact. You weren't comparing two things, you were using scale, so saying 'your comments are irrelevant at best, and ludicrous at worse" would only imply that 'ludicrous' could be just slightly worse than 'irrelevant', with many things worse than 'ludicrous', and that would've been meaningless gibberish.

Copy and paste something from a writer who properly used 'at best' with 'at worse' in the same sentence. I'd like to see that. Like maybe Dickens 'It was the best of times, it was the worse of times'. No, wait, he said 'it was the worst of times', didn't he, since 'worse' in that statement wouldn't have told us very much, would it?

Posted by Dennis on 2013-05-09 06:04:29

Look, Tom, If you keep up this crap your life as you know it will start looking like a swamp filled with hungry, indiscriminate alligators coming for your ass.

Posted by The Dark Avenger on 2013-05-08 21:18:18

To be quite honest with you, YOU ARE AN ASSHOLE. Get it through your half Mexican Taco Bell brain. You are a nobody otherwise known as a LOSER. unemployable LOSER

Posted by copyavatar on 2013-05-08 20:30:17

If I were this guy Tom that you are referring to, I would surely kick your punk ass but I'm not big boy. Keep trying butt quake. Stop quivering in your boots asshole. Bring it on. I am so not scared of some little half Mexican. Oh and a little raking before seed maya help your barren lawn growing up in Detroit we used to say that you lived in the projects or Prop 8 when people had graffiti on their house. Nice work asshole, nice work. Copy and paste all you want stalker

Posted by copyavatar on 2013-05-08 20:27:55

I'm sorry, Tom, isn't there anything happening in your part of NJ?

Posted by The Dark Avenger on 2013-05-08 20:21:19

Thanks for the feedback, Tom. You know that I can copy pasta all your comments here and send them to whomever I think needs to see them, right?

Posted by The Dark Avenger on 2013-05-08 20:20:43

You are a copy and paste thief/ moron. Must be a butt plug day for you? Get original asshole. You are really stupid

Posted by copyavatar on 2013-05-08 20:18:47

Godamn Jesus Christ Mary and Joseph you are such a fucking illiterate:

1Use worse to compare two things. These can be physical objects, concepts, places, people, and so forth. Ex: "I think eggplant is worse than boiled cabbage, but that's just my opinion"; “Which is worse for your health, smoking or drinking?”

You can also use worse to describe something in a state of deterioration. Ex. “This is going to get a lot worse before it gets better.” Technically speaking, you are still comparing two things (one state of being to another), but a lot of the time, one of these states is implied instead of mentioned outright. Ex: “I think my handwriting is getting worse [than it was before].”

2Use worst to state that one thing is inferior to multiple other things. Since it’s used to single out one thing, it always comes after the word the. Ex. “I disagree. Eggplant and boiled cabbage are both vile, but squash is the worst!”

Unlike worse, you can’t use worst when only comparing two things. Ex. “Dirty diapers smell worse than rotten milk, but week-old fish is the worst of all.”

Note that you can use worst compare something to other things that are implied but not mentioned outright. Ex. “Chartreuse is the worst color [of all]”; “He’s the worst person imaginable [in the entire human population].”

I tutor kids about the differences in comparative and superlative adjectives, and you have somehow managed to go through the education process in this country without learning this concept.

Dennis Gene, if I were you, I wouldn't respond to this comment, as you'll only beclown yourself more and more, and reveal that you are, indeed, the dumbest and worst commentator on this thread.

Posted by The Dark Avenger on 2013-05-08 20:06:13

and ludicrous at worse.

It's 'at worst', Frank.

Funny, the guy who quotes Chaucer, Byron and Shaw....Googles those authors then copies and pastes, actually,....shows what an illiterate he is when he tries to write on his own.

Posted by Dennis on 2013-05-08 18:50:14

DA,

You are a 50 something year old, unemployable, gov't entitlement loving loser. You are a wanna be cyber bully who can't make it happen. You are married to the Internet and probably stalk young boys when not harassing folks like Dennis, OY, copy burn, pasta sauce, etc... You are a LOSER DA LOSER

GET A LIFE AND JOB ASSHOLE

Posted by copyavatar on 2013-05-08 18:48:36

If you find my house, Dennis, please link to it. I'd give you a hint because you obviously think that Google Street View is accurate for my address, when it isn't. It doesn't even get the side of the street I live on correct.

You're so funny, Dennis. Basing your accusations on out-of-date photos of a house that I've never owned.

Have a good half-hour, try not to trample anyone on the way out the door. :-O

Posted by The Dark Avenger on 2013-05-08 16:29:19

The only thing with plenty of grass growing in your neighborhood is the cemetery next door, Frank. And yeah, I'm sure the Google car just happened to come by on the one day that vandals spray-painted your garage door. Right.

Probably done by kids who you were trying to stalk on Facebook, once they figured out you were a 54 year old Aqualung pervert and not the 17 year old girl you were pretending to be.

Posted by Dennis on 2013-05-08 15:22:35

Dennis, thanks for the feedback, but that picture you're apparently basing your remarks on is old, and therefore your comments are irrelevant at best, and ludicrous at worse.

My lawn has plenty of grass, as does my neighbors on either side of me, and the only plastic chair I saw was on my neighbors' place on the north side.

I'm sorry that you have to go public with your delusions about where I live and what my neighborhood looks like, Dennis.

Have a good hour.

Posted by The Dark Avenger on 2013-05-08 15:17:48

Copyburn, go ahead, tell "Ms. Tabucao" something or another.

Posted by The Dark Avenger on 2013-05-08 15:05:40

Frank, do you know what grass seed is and how it works? Try it on your lawn some day, work it into the soil and see what happens. Maybe it will turn the same color as your neighbors' yard. Not the one across the street with the plastic chairs sitting out front, but the ones next door to your left and right. And maybe try painting the graffiti on your garage doors so you house doesn't look like it's sitting in the lot of an abandoned steel mill.

Posted by Dennis on 2013-05-08 14:55:14

Hey Tabatha or is it Mary Belly,?

Bring it on. please contact that facebook account and hopefully you will stalk to a point where this lady has you brought up on charges for cyber stalking. You need something to do with your time and perhaps rehab would be best. I would gladly sponsor you if you need help since you don't have insurance, a job or and means of supporting yourself other than food stamps, welfare, section 8 housing and whatever else the gov't will give your sorry ass for free.

Your a loser DA. LOSER (1000 times font)

Posted by copyavatar on 2013-05-08 14:21:50

Dennis, this guy is a world class LOSER (make it 1000 font). He is a cyber stalker. Watch out or he will start targeting your wife, kids, etc... I wish he found out who I was and tried contacting me. I just wish he did!!!

Avatar

Posted by copyavatar on 2013-05-08 14:16:26

DA,

I would love for you to message my wife. Please do you stalking freak. That's right, you don't know who I am or who my wife is. If you contacted this guys wife that mention in this thread and I happened to be that guy, you could bet your ass that I would be kicking it you little weasel. Bring it on Mr. I am going to call wives, families, etc... Go ahead find out who I am you little fairy. Oh and you are calling him a fudgepacker. What do you think you are? Mr. rainbow. How is MaryBelle doing douchebag? Does she know about your male fetish?

Copymyavatar

Posted by copyavatar on 2013-05-08 14:14:17

oh my God, you are a stalker. You have serious mental issues. how's the Tule River Tribe doing? I am sure Ms. Tabucao wouldn't like to hear that her husband is sitting on blogs all day threatening conservatives with idol threats. I would love to introduce you to me someday, perhaps in a bar with lots of rainbows. Your favorite kind of bar. You fucking stalker.

Posted by copyavatar on 2013-05-08 14:10:43

Gee, Dennis, you came all the way from your paradise in Virginia to tell me how to deal with a troll.

People are going to start calling you Dennis Troll Schlacter.

594.

Good idea, keeping both avatars up, Dennis.

Have a good hour.

Posted by The Dark Avenger on 2013-05-08 13:53:34

DA, why don't you focus on your wife instead of jonesing on other peoples' wives for a change? Aqualung weirdo.

People are going to start calling you Frank Cuffman Castro.

Posted by Dennis on 2013-05-08 13:10:34

Maybe I'll message your lovely wife with your comments here, Tom. She won't like you endangering your job and the support of your three lovely children for some moronic remarks, fudgepacker :-)

Hey burn I mean stalker. Bring it on you fucking queer buttfuck. The best part about you’re quietness is that you’re attempt in finding out about me is seamless and bluntly wrong you liberal towel head, chigger. Go fingerbang yourself tonight asshole.

The Internet and the Wayback Machine never forget.

Posted by The Dark Avenger on 2013-05-06 22:13:16

David Sirota,

I cannot believe that you allow this guy The Dark Avenger post on your articles. This guy is a proven stalker, loser and wanna be bully. This guy The Dark Avenger is a CANCER that needs not any additional spreading. He should be committed. Any suggestions.

Copy BURN

Posted by copyburn on 2013-05-06 21:36:08

Tom, I'll call your wife and your therapist to discuss your progress and see about getting that court order lifted tomorrow.

Posted by The Dark Avenger on 2013-05-06 21:29:55

Is that what you use to pleasure your wife, a pickle?

Posted by The Dark Avenger on 2013-05-06 21:28:40

Hey flame job. You still playing hide the pickle with Zython?

Posted by lovewoodward2 on 2013-05-06 21:27:40

Who is Tom? I sure hope this guy doesn't track you down and turn you into a punching bag. That is what you deserve for writing things like this. You are an unemployable 50 something year old loser who claims "you have a healthy relationship" with fat ass Amanda

Posted by lovewoodward2 on 2013-05-06 21:27:01

Who are you and why are you responding to me with the name Tom? Are you a stalker? A royal piece of shite?

Posted by lovewoodward2 on 2013-05-06 21:25:00

Anything you say, Dufner.

Posted by The Dark Avenger on 2013-05-06 21:13:21

What's your problem, Tom?

Posted by The Dark Avenger on 2013-05-06 21:12:39

Hey, Tom, how are things in New Joisy?

Hi, I am Tom Dufner. (I have no better joy than to appear an illiterate gay-bashing fool) I live in Washington NJ.(You have our pity on that score) I am married to Kristen Dufner and I have three children, Matthew, Megan and Michael. (If any of them makes it to college without slashing or hurting themselves, it'll be a miracle) I am a Senior Sales Representative with Financial Services, Inc.(That means they can fire my ass anytime I become deadweight in the organization. I can be reached at 201-652-6000, x206 and my email is TDufner@insideFSI.net.(Be still, my beating heart.) I have a BA in Business Administration from Lycoming College in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.(It sounds perfectly boring. And I dated someone who came from Point Marion, PA) I began my career in the transportation industry and then transitioned into the financial services industry.In my years of sales experience, I have held positions consulting National, Regional, Community banks and Credit Unions. I have a diverse background and I bring a unique blend of experience to any position. I have worked with hundreds of financial institutions to provide them with products and solutions to improve their operations and increase their profitability.In my previous sales positions, I have been the top performer, recognized for his leadership abilities and sales management. I attribute the success to my commitment to the customer and building long-term relationships.

Posted by The Dark Avenger on 2013-05-06 21:02:30

I found it. Look over here flame job

Posted by lovewoodward2 on 2013-05-06 20:58:32

Not even close DA. Your boy obozo uses drones like he owns them. What a douche bag. You still pounding Zython in the ass?

Posted by lovewoodward2 on 2013-05-06 20:57:25

How about you get a life?

Posted by lovewoodward2 on 2013-05-06 20:55:47

Your boy obozo is a buffoon. Ruining my great country. He is a joke. You should be embarrassed?

Posted by lovewoodward2 on 2013-05-06 20:51:52

Says who? You are clueless. Woodward is my idol and he loves George W. bush

Posted by lovewoodward2 on 2013-05-06 20:49:59

You are a real idiot. Bush is the best thing that happened to MY great country. You liberals ought to all move to CA with the good diver or and all those liberal butt cakes and leave us the hell alone. Sound good?

Posted by lovewoodward2 on 2013-05-06 20:48:36

He is a mental midget. Don't argue with him or he will stalk you all over the Internet. He is a world class asshole

Posted by lovewoodward2 on 2013-05-06 20:41:46

And haven't tried to find a job for a 50 something unemployable asshole who is just sucking on OBOZOS tits. You are a loser DA. LOSER

Posted by lovewoodward2 on 2013-05-06 20:39:14

Bush senior invaded Kuwait. It was Clinton who first bombed Baghdad, while being impeached for blow job ... remember?

Posted by tonyk on 2013-05-05 07:14:40

"The U.S."? It's not monolithic. Indeed, A minority, willing to break all sorts of rules (written and unwritten) so as to come into a position of dominance in society (http://bit.ly/mZRT2A), as the iconic 1%, sees to it that many of the policies that capitalists want are enshrined in law by their political partners, often with a majority of citizens disagreeing. You call it democracy. I call if fascism.

Posted by Arrby on 2013-05-05 00:55:38

That's the inention 'and' the effect. Terror and capitalism go hand in hand. Naomi Klein brilliantly laid that out in her book "The Shock Doctrine." No, It's not the only book I've read. A few others I have read are mentioned below. (I have yet to get to Baker's interesting work.)

There is the common sense view of terrorism and then the 1%'s view of terrorism. What I find when it comes to the macho Right is that those with power babble at us. 'Criminal' bankers and Wall St, and their corporatist partners in politics, wounded the economy, but the victims must pay, says this somebody, Christine Lagarde, in charge of capitalism's hit man, the IMF (http://bit.ly/12xRw1a & http://bit.ly/11pZUAo). We can't have deficits, which are evil, while corporatist politicians shovel out deficit-causing tax cuts (on top of loopholes like 'accelerated depreciation', tax havens and more http://bit.ly/cDmGiN). I need a tax cut says the rightwinger whose class conspires with captured governments to engineer revenue problems (mainly through tax cuts and tax havens) and call them spending problems, even though a tax cut for me wouldn't mean anything. I don't earn anything. Public services aren't free either, so I 'need' to pay my taxes, along with the parasites who aren't. The Right rails at the nanny state (http://bit.ly/126bMIC), but it's honest, clear-eyed people who see that those who turn to the state all the time in fact are parasites who lambast others for the socialism they do. Victims of neoliberal policies shouldn't go to 'their' nanny state, but criminal-minded speculators and mortgage lenders and bankers, gambling, recklessly, with others' money and losing, should.

In other words, the powerful and their tools babble at us because What can we do about it? It's attitude - in spades. It's a deal, from practicioners of mafia capitalism, that we can't refuse.

An excerpt from "Somebody Else's Atrocities," by Noam Chomsky, follows:

++++In his penetrating study "Ideal Illusions: How the U.S. Government Co-Opted Human Rights," international affairs scholar James Peck observes, "In the history of human rights, the worst atrocities are always committed by somebody else, never us" -- whoever "us" is...

Another major crime with very serious persisting effects is the Marine assault on the Iraqi city of Fallujah in November 2004.

Women and children were permitted to escape if they could. After several weeks of bombing, the attack opened with a carefully planned war crime: Invasion of the Fallujah General Hospital, where patients and staff were ordered to the floor, their hands tied. Soon the bonds were loosened; the compound was secure.

The official justification was that the hospital was reporting civilian casualties, and therefore was considered a propaganda weapon.

Much of the city was left in "smoking ruins," the press reported while the Marines sought out insurgents in their "warrens." The invaders barred entry to the Red Crescent relief organization. Absent an official inquiry, the scale of the crimes is unknown.

If the Fallujah events are reminiscent of the events that took place in the Bosnian enclave of Srebrenica, now again in the news with the genocide trial of Bosnian Serb military commander Ratko Mladic, there's a good reason. An honest comparison would be instructive, but there's no fear of that: One is an atrocity, the other not, by definition. (http://bit.ly/15i7PGt)++++

An excerpt from "Obama On Palestine," by Noam Chomsky follows:

++++Shalit's capture is a prominent issue in the West, another indication of Hamas's criminality. Whatever one thinks about it, it is uncontroversial that capture of a soldier of an attacking army is far less of a crime than kidnapping of civilians, exactly what Israeli forces did the day before the capture of Shalit, invading Gaza city and kidnapping two brothers, then spiriting them across the border where they disappeared into Israel's prison complex. Unlike the much lesser case of Shalit, that crime was virtually unreported and has been forgotten, along with Israel's regular practice for decades of kidnapping civilians in Lebanon and on the high seas and dispatching them to Israeli prisons, often held for many years as hostages. But the capture of Shalit bars a cease-fire. (http://bit.ly/NHw5K)++++

Finally, because I know how intensely interesting all of this must be to one like Anthony O'Donnell, an excerpt from a Democracy Now segment titled "UN Inquiry Finds Israel "Punished and Terrorized" Palestinian Civilians, Committed War Crimes During Gaza Assault" follows:

++++NORMAN FINKELSTEIN: The report found that the Palestinians were guilty of war crimes because of its indiscriminate and intentional firing on civilians in Israel. I’m not trying to make any apologies, but I want to get the facts right. The Goldstone report, like the Amnesty report and the others, you have to look carefully at the proportions. About nine-tenths — literally, about nine-tenths of the Goldstone report, like the Dugard report, like the Amnesty report, about nine-tenths was devoted to Israeli war crimes; about one-tenth was devoted to Palestinian war crimes. And you have to understand why, because you have to look at the comparable damage. The ratio of killings was about a hundred to one: about — exactly thirteen on the Israeli side, about fourteen hundred on the Palestinian side. If you look at the damage, the damage is actually quite astonishing. Israel just systematically blasted everything in sight and reduced it to rubble, whereas on the Israeli side they say that several houses were damaged and one was almost completely destroyed. So if you look at the facts, the facts on the ground, the proportions in the reports, including the Goldstone report, are correct. It’s about ten to one.

And that’s why yesterday’s — or today’s headline in the New York Times is so misleading. It’s like a Pravda headline. It says the Goldstone report finds both sides guilty of war crimes. Well, that’s technically true, but an accurate headline would have read, “Goldstone reports Israel guilty of massive war crimes and also faults Hamas.” That’s what a true headline would have read. (http://bit.ly/me27F)++++

Posted by Arrby on 2013-05-05 00:42:37

I doubt the innocent people sold to our Military, by their neighbors to soldiers carrying bags of US cash in exchange "for names of terrorist"..(without proof), who were tortured illegally and kept without trial would agree. Bush committed war crimes in our name. We have to own that fact now, even if we didn't agree. Torturing them was a crime as was the Iraqi war. It wasn't sanctioned by the world. This war was on purpose to re elect an incompetent man who never should have been elected to begin with. Thousands of soldiers gave their lives and limbs so that fake cowboy ( who is terrified of horses BTW) could be elected again to finish wiping out our treasury and pass laws that took our freedoms. There are wars and their are invasions that are criminal and the Iraqi invasion by US was criminal. Look what we did to that country! Bush Library lies to kids now and claims."It made Iraq a Democracy"..Total lie and distortion of truth. Bush deserves a jail cell not a Library.

Posted by bartskid1 on 2013-05-03 19:45:12

I wouldn't put Brokaw in the same place as Cronkite. Walter has actual journalistic integrity, he showed us "The way it is"... Brokaw sold his integrity the day his network sold out to conservative owners. They avoid the real News for mindless drama and have become more Fox like by the day. They all want ratings and care less about facts or getting dirty. If they had done their jobs as Cronkite did his, we wouldn't have fallen for Iraq war for lies.

Posted by bartskid1 on 2013-05-03 19:35:36

Look who owns that network now.

Posted by bartskid1 on 2013-05-03 19:31:27

Good rant..Corporate wars for greedy profit are no more a reason to go to war then stopping this isn't possible "because it kills jobs" it's all nonsense, that hurts we, the tax payer, and it's always for corp,profit.. They used fear and lied to the American people post 9/11. I'm trying to still see if any one in the GOP is left from the Party I grew up with. This Party shames us daily with their elected officials being unqualified to run a dog pound never mind a state.I left the party and I'm still waiting for others to wake up and smell the coffee. Conservative owned media isn't helping and the Koch brothers who want to buy up 8 more Newspapers. It's got to change or all News will be pro war propaganda and out right lies..Taking the message we hear is to divide and conquer and it seems to be working. If we allow it.

Posted by bartskid1 on 2013-05-03 19:30:42

Excuse me but Bush 1 ( the dumb dad) invaded Iraq the first time. Those who bastardize the Koran (spelling?) do so because of ignorance in the locals who they refuse to educate..(kind of like the GOP want to do to America)... Clinton/Gore had a commission to go after Bin Laden and the Republican Congress ( GOP) refused to allow him to take him out before 9/11..Clinton also warned Bush 2 about Bin Laden, everyone warned Bush Cheney about Bin Laden's pending attack..But he wanted to attack Iraq before 9/11, and showed plans to do so. Bush 2 decided to do "anything BUT whatever Clinton suggested"..We have a lot of that here pushed along by conservative owned media, especially Fox, as people still assume they're "news"..They're yellow journalism and have no credibility.

Posted by bartskid1 on 2013-05-03 19:22:34

TL;DR... does the author mean those Chechen idiot terrorists made a rational choice and came here to revenge... revenge for what? For US gentle pressure on Russia to stop bombings of Grozny? No, actually. The revenge for us not following sharia law. Etc. And I wonder... maybe US should just stop letting in people not only for their Nazi past or polygamist present, but also for their support of terrorist ideologies, eh? (wishful thinking, I know)

Posted by Vlad Patryshev on 2013-05-03 19:07:36

We threw away over a trillion dollars and now to pay that waste back OUR OWN children are paying in blackmailed cuts to education, states, and every social program this GOP wanted to kill from day one;.. and our poor people are suffering. Elderly people are dying because cancer treatments they paid for their entire lives into Medicare isn't paid for by this GOP sequester. They're peacemealing what they'll allow, "If it affects wealthy donors", like plane flights and lines..We should have held out for leverage on their whole created sequester game ending. It's literally killing people who can't continue their treatments, children starve, Vet's go without promised medical care. It's criminal what the American people stand for silently. Apathy is killing this country. This GOP do nothing Congress should be impeached for crimes against it's citizens'. I'm waiting for the first law suit when someone dies over this GOP created sequester game. We are not in debt and it's all they have to go after. LOOK at that party now!

Posted by bartskid1 on 2013-05-03 18:55:37

What about terrorist strapping bombs to their own poor local children to bomb others? They use angry young men too for the same thing (9/11), and under educated poor people who buy into the religious nonsense that they teach. Our previous administration didn't help with an illegal immoral war with Iraq only to turn around a year later and decide "Bin Laden wasn't Under his desk" or worth going after??..(Bush's tasteless joke at the expense of those who died under his watch on 9/11) Does this President get points for actually getting the person who caused 9/11?Drones save soldiers lives, except when used too much, and that is a Military issue not the President's fault totally, any more then Military rapes are Obama's fault. It's the Generals. I don't see how blaming this President for doing his best to clean up the mess the last began as helpful. It's buying into the whole GOP war for corporate profit, that they keep going after.

Posted by bartskid1 on 2013-05-03 18:48:11

Drones are saving our soldiers from dirty bombs planted all over the place by terrorists and most of the locals aren't exactly helping by hiding these criminals. That said, Instead of bombs, if we showed them a better way, built schools, educated them, perhaps that would be more productive in the long run for US history in the memories of the children growing up while we bomb them.. All we're doing right now is creating another generation of terrorist without education who really think they're going to some "heaven"...or other religious nonsense. Religions is another whole problem we should ban here for that matter.

Posted by bartskid1 on 2013-05-03 18:36:43

Did Korea attack us, Vietnam, Iraq? The last moral war we fought was WW1 and WW2, the other invasions were using our power over others for abuse and corporate gain. While drones began under the last administration and save soldiers lives, I find it remarkable people attack this President for doing the same thing but with results, unlike the last joke of a President we had...who abused his power and embarrassed us world wide.

Posted by bartskid1 on 2013-05-03 18:19:20

How can you dare to compare Normandy, and a World War, to Iraq's invasion by Bush which most of the world saw as illegal and was NOT approved of or sanctioned by the UN? Iraq had no WMD and even your side knows this fact by now is indisputable. American's were lied to. Bush just ruin and destabilized the middle east and created MORE terrorist by his illegal war crimes and torturing innocent people in our name. (which he belongs in prison for)To compare Hitler taking over the world with Bush's illegal invasion is a joke, shame on you.

Posted by bartskid1 on 2013-05-03 18:13:20

What other word would you prefer to use when we invaded Iraq over Bush's lies for corporate profit and oil? Bush tore up their infrastructure, had NO PLAN in place once he invaded, killed innocent women and children, and then silenced those who outed them for murders. Woodward's book showed Bush had plans to invade Iraq before he ever was elected and "needed to become a war President to be re elected"... Bush approved of Woodward's book BTW.

Posted by bartskid1 on 2013-05-03 18:07:29

If these people "hate America" so much, why did they move here and leave their own country? If they love their own country so much, they could have moved back there. ON the other hand, we shouldn't be invading countries for oil, as Bush did with lies. That cost is thousands of young people, a trillion dollars and counting and years of grief for families who bought Bush's lies for Corp gain. Let's hope we learn this expensive mistake, and not rush into more wars. Vet the truth, vet these GOP liars who embarrass us with misinformation, and often bold faced lies daily on national TV. WE ALL can do better then these people.

Posted by bartskid1 on 2013-05-03 18:00:48

Drone strikes have resulted in the deaths of 50 civilians to every "enemy combatant". A 50 to 1 ratio is not what I consider to be precise. And yes as a civilian, if your town was destroyed by a robot killer plane in the middle of the day and your child was murdered, you would feel terrorized. Now understand Mr. O'Donnell that people who become terrorists do not do that in a vacuum. You do not just wake up one day and decide you are going to become a terrorist because it sounds like fun. Generations of violence and abuse by the United States foreign policy give rise to this back lash. Try to put yourself in a Pakistani youth's position. You are 15 years old, your country has been under attack from flying death robots for most of your life. You have had friends killed in drone strikes, perhaps. These friends were not engaged in any act of terrorism, but they were murdered by the US military anyway, considered collateral damage. This has been happening for most of your life. You are filled with grief and fear and rage. You have no way of protecting yourself or your loved ones, you have no recourse against the mightiest military in the world. You become more and more angry as the body counts rise and rise. Yes, some of the people who are killed are enemies of the US, but most of them are not. SO you seek an outlet for your grief and rage. You turn to religious leaders for help, but even with the help of your trusted religious leaders you cannot quell the rage because more people are killed in your community everyday. What do you do then? Well many of these people turn to more militarized religious leaders who lead them down the path of becoming an enemy of the US and no longer feel that killing American civilians as wrong. It is an eye for en eye, tooth for tooth. You do not see yourself as a terrorist. You see yourself as a freedom fighter and a warrior. It does not take long for you to become that which you abhor, a killer of innocents. So Mr. O'Donnell, your outlook is just as skewed as that poor pakistani youths. Nothing but revenge and violence will suit you. You are no better.

Posted by Karma's Hammer on 2013-05-03 15:26:38

Attacks were being made before drone strikes and they would continue in their absence. What you're doing is playing into the extortionist game of terrorism. Yes, our enemies may fight harder when we engage them, but they are emboldened not chastened by our giving in to them. As another commenter said, al Qaeda has been greatly diminished. Well, how did that happen?

Posted by Anthony R. O'Donnell on 2013-05-03 10:34:26

Edward, I appreciate the courteous reply, but I disagree with your comparison. There's no reason a state can't be at war with a non-state organization. For example, any number of countries have been overthrown by revolutionaries that were not state actors until they succeeded (that's a comment on the principle, not on the particular threat of al Qaeda, which is different in other respects). Furthermore, dealing with John Dillinger, a domestic bank robber, is a very different thing than dealing with an international terrorist organization that is at war with the state and is dedicated to killing as many non-combatants as it can (among other objectives — they have of course engaged military targets as well).

Dealing with that kind of enemy is very different than dealing with mere criminals, including international criminals, and requires different tactics.

I actually think Pershing would have gone after Villa with drones.

If you want to make the prudential that drone strikes are simply counterproductive, or that they can be if overdone, perhaps you can make a case. I'm open to that. As far as getting involved in tribal matters, if the tribes are involved in activities against the US, then they're involving themselves. So many people talk about blowback to the US, which is always something to be considered, but for some odd reason they don't think in terms of blowback for parties that act against the US.

Posted by Anthony R. O'Donnell on 2013-05-03 10:28:56

The point is that the drone strikes will make more hit on the US be prepared for that dude

Posted by Bert Drommond Farry on 2013-05-03 10:17:40

With all due respect, you're comparing a war with (what should be) a dragnet for criminals. Should we use drone attacks to take out latter-day Dillingers or Jesse Jameses beyond our borders? Would Pershing have used drones to go after Pancho Villa? [Or, currently, should we use drones to go after narco-terrorists that crisscross the Mexican border, creating mayhem?]

These are stateless actors. A state of war can only exist between two states. I have always rejected the Bush logic that this was a war. It isn't.

Finally, the al-Qaeda threat has been greatly diminished. Their original members will be soon knocking off candy stores for bus money to get out of town in a hurry. What we have now is U.S. involvement in tribal conflicts that have little to do with us or our security. By getting involved in these affairs, we make ourselves less secure, not more, as per the above article.

Posted by Edward Kirby on 2013-05-03 09:55:53

I wish it were a Cronkite moment. Cronkite was still broadcasting nightly and had tremendous influence over the masses because of his integrity. Brokaw has the same integrity, but lacks the influence.

Posted by doc on 2013-05-03 09:25:08

I think there's a good deal of sense in your argument to the extent you're talking about prudence in how extended the US is. However, you still exaggerate the extent of involvement. The US is certainly not involved in dictating how the world lives, apart from dictating that if you plot to kill its citizens, you may find yourselves in the cross hairs. But I agree that one can object to US policy rationally on the grounds of economics and diplomacy considerations.

Posted by Anthony R. O'Donnell on 2013-05-03 09:17:00

Neville Chamberlain gave it a try.

Posted by Anthony R. O'Donnell on 2013-05-03 09:13:51

You're making excuses for people to deliberately maximize civilian casualties while saying that because the US is a great power it can't possibly use that power morally. The US has every right to fight with people who belong to parties that pursue a strategy of terrorism against the US and its interests.

Posted by Anthony R. O'Donnell on 2013-05-03 09:13:09

America and its military cannot continue this way of life that has been created in the age of terrorism ... America and America's military cannot continue on this path of military involvement in every country in the Middle East or Asia ... even not in Africa ... America is not GOD ... America does not and cannot dictate how the world lives ... what religion they practice ... what their political ideology is ... and for nothing else except the continued life in and of America ... sooner or later the military budget ... the military involvement will over reach and America will fall under the weight of their military complex ... as the old Soviet Union did ... just think about that ... We cannot force any country to have and practice a government as ours in America ... hell .. it does not work anymore ... just look at the hatred .. and lack of agreement among our Congress ... the hatred of America's first black President ... No ... we cannot continue down this path and not expect "paybacks" in our country and to our citizens .....

Posted by Tom on 2013-05-03 09:12:12

Explain how they are.

Posted by Anthony R. O'Donnell on 2013-05-03 09:11:34

The United States isn't in the business of terrorism. You need to be able to tell the difference between warfare, on the one hand, and the deliberate killing of non-combatants on the other.

Posted by Anthony R. O'Donnell on 2013-05-03 09:10:50

How about we try stopping our KILLING for awhile and see if that helps? How about we stop blowing up other people. Let's just give it a try.

Posted by Karen Hanks on 2013-05-03 08:45:44

Killing should only be done for self-defense. Is someone attacking us when we do a drone attack? Not. We are not recognizing the rules of war...another excuse for our military might.

Posted by Karen Hanks on 2013-05-03 08:44:42

They were.

Posted by Karen Hanks on 2013-05-03 08:43:25

Do you not see we have great military power? The other side doesn't so they use what means they do have. They see our killing with drones as bad...we are killing children. Excuses of "well, we don't try to do it" are lame. Why can you not see that?

Posted by Karen Hanks on 2013-05-03 08:43:15

Yes, they are.

Posted by Karen Hanks on 2013-05-03 08:41:43

How about our country stopping its acts of terrorism?

Posted by Karen Hanks on 2013-05-03 08:41:34

Reverend Jeremiah Wright, Ron Paul, and Tom Brokaw. Left to their own devices and inclinations, these three public figures would have a lot of difficulty being able to agree on where to rendevous for a short business lunch. But each, coming from remarkably different backgrounds and ideological mindsets, dared utter the post-9/11 Great Unmentionable: yes, blowback from what the US military/national security establishment's violence overseas eventually does very likely return, like chickens coming home to roost.

Temporarily assume that the leaked post-arrest bedside partial confession of Dzohkar Tsarnaev reported in the Washington Post to be accurate (America's wars killing Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan did motivate big brother and little brother to bomb the crowd at the finish line of the Boston marathon). Assume further that Mr. Brokaw's travel anecdotes, and the opinion polling data about skyrocketing anti-American animosity in the Muslim world during the last decade, is also accurate. Assume many, many ordinary people are indeed predisposed to hate Americans generally because of the federal government's militarism and arrogant disregard for settled international law and human rights.

Do you think the time has come to have an adult conversation about cause and effect, and the long term consequences of waging endless overt and covert military misadventures abroad?

Unlike Mr. Sirota, I don't think it is so much a question of whether America will finally listen. It's much more a question of whether responsible political decision makers will finally speak up with some measure of honesty, rather than just another round of fear mongering.

Bill from Saginaw

Posted by Bill_from_Saginaw1 on 2013-05-02 15:45:03

On what grounds do you make that claim? Drone strikes are precise by nature. That doesn't mean that they can't be abused. But even supposing you can make a case that they have been used without as much caution as the circumstances warrant (and I'd be willing to support you if you could make a credible case), it's still night and day from deliberately maximizing civilian casualties.

Posted by Anthony R. O'Donnell on 2013-05-01 13:52:19

We certainly haven't tried to minimize the harm from the drone strikes.

Posted by The Dark Avenger on 2013-05-01 13:13:40

Targeted killings of enemies are also very different than deliberately killing as many civilians as you can, don't you agree? What I'm asking you is to acknowledge the difference between those apples and oranges. Drone strikes are no different than WWII bombing and artillery in terms of the ethical questions under the rules of war. In terms of the extent of "collateral damage," to both property and civilian life, drone strikes are far more precise. By the way, I'm not against criticisms of drone strikes per se, or of the way they've been used — any application of military force can raise legitimate questions about proportionality and the potential of civilian harm. But I insist that there's a world of difference between belligerents precisely attacking enemy assets, including commanders, on the one hand, and belligerents who recognize no limits under the rules of war and actually go out of their way to maximize harm to non-combatants.

Posted by Anthony R. O'Donnell on 2013-05-01 12:27:49

Targeted killings are hardly the same as an invasion force wreaking havoc along the countryside. If you can find justification for drone attacks in the GC, that would be interesting, but you're equating apples with oranges here.

Posted by The Dark Avenger on 2013-05-01 11:47:03

Were all the civilians killed in Normandy in 1944 the victims of terrorism? Not according to the Geneva Conventions. People get killed in warfare. There's a responsibility to minimize harm to civilians, and the US takes that seriously through the rules of engagement it employs. The other side deliberately kills as many civilians as possible. Do you really not see a distinction?

Posted by Anthony R. O'Donnell on 2013-05-01 10:29:13

So, all the children and civilians who were killed by our drones weren't the victims of terrorism?

News to me.

Posted by The Dark Avenger on 2013-05-01 10:18:33

Please apply the same analysis to the Palestinians plight imposed by a handful of Israeli/Americans.

Posted by charles on 2013-04-30 20:25:21

I wouldn't give the dim-witted Brokaw too much credit.

He is repeating the doubts publicly offered by Gen. McChristal, who recently published a memoir that expressed the fear that the drone program creates more enemies of the US than it destroys.

I guess Brokaw's repetition gives the argument more credibility, but its hardly groundbreaking, even for a middle-of-the-road conservative like Brokaw...

Posted by Bruce Vail on 2013-04-29 13:51:20

Your proof you can fool some of the people all of the time.

Posted by Richard Cook on 2013-04-27 23:38:39

Sirota needs to retire. Clearly past it.

Posted by Richard Cook on 2013-04-27 23:37:45

Jihadists cleverly mouth the grievance line parroted by David Sirota and Tom Brokaw, but the real root of their discontent is their interpretation of their holy koran. I'm still unclear on whether it's an erroneous reading or an accurate one. For some reason, David and Tom just take jihadist's word for things. Those terrorists are just so honest and salt of the Earth don't you know.

Regardless, remember David and Tom that 9/11 came BEFORE wars in Afganistan and Iraq, and before drones even existed. That operation took 3000 innocent American lives, not 3. Bin Laden not only cited western involvement in the Middle East, but sinful behavior by Bill Clinton in the Oval, among other western social evils in general. When are we going to learn that we need to STAND TOGETHER and wholly reject WHATEVER endless excuses they come up with to kill us? THAT is their main objective.

"Who can forget your President Clinton's immoral acts committed in the official Oval office? After that you did not even bring him to account, other than that he 'made a mistake', after which everything passed with no punishment. Is there a worse kind of event for which your name will go down in history and remembered by nations?" ....... "We call you to be a people of manners, principles, honour, and purity; to reject the immoral acts of fornication, homosexuality, intoxicants, gambling's, and trading with interest." -- Bin Laden's 'Letter to America'.

Hilarious. David Sirota first wished for a right-wing white tea partier perpetrator, but when that reaching fantasy didn't come to pass, he seeks to blame him anyway.

How palpably pathetic and desperately wrong-headed can one get?

Posted by Kay on 2013-04-27 20:40:25

Because the U.S.'s actions aren't terrorism. You're making a false equivalence.

Posted by Anthony R. O'Donnell on 2013-04-27 16:59:49

Except Cronkite's statement was a bald faced lie after the Tet Offensive. The US had just decimated the North Vietnamese fighting forces, but a vehemently anti-war Cronkite decided to publicly state his views against the war, and he did it in a way that ended up swaying public opinion in the wrong direction. That statement resulted in the deaths of thousands of Americans and millions of Vietnamese and Thai civilians after Vietnam fell to Communism.

Posted by Randall Hertzer on 2013-04-27 15:52:31

Has it occurred to anyone here that these things are happening because of....JIHAD????

Nope. Continue to gaze at your navels and stew in angst.

Posted by dbr1 on 2013-04-27 13:38:31

If we don't learn from history....it'll end up biting us!

Posted by Eric Schindling on 2013-04-27 13:01:56

A great many of us most certainly are.

Posted by robbury on 2013-04-27 11:41:49

A more profound unhappiness arises from the realization of the extent to which each and ever congressional district is dependent on military industrial complex spending. Thus, wars and blowback is needed to keep the economy going.